Unstable Anomaly
by XFlare
Summary: Uchiha Shiro isn't supposed to be alive. Plucked from the Uchiha's personal mini-hospital at birth, she reappears to prevent the Uchiha Massacre. And is thus caught up in the mess that follows her decision. AU semi-non-Massacre. (EDIT: On permanent hiatus)
1. Chapter 1: Murder

_**Unstable Anomaly**_

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**A/N** **[12/4/15]:** Yay, multi-chaptered story. Hope it's okay, reviews would be helpful… but we'll get to that later, ne?

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or even Shiro. She's mostly copied from No Game No Life.

**Edit [13/4/15]:** I got a really helpful review- Thanks, Harmonia!- and followed the advice.

Warning to those who read before I edited this(and actually liked it): It may be considered an almost total revamp. Plus I forgot to put in a chapter title last time.

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_**Chapter 1: Murder (and not the flock of crows kind)**_

* * *

Uchiha Shiro hated her life.

At least she _thought_ she did. The only things she knew of emotions were from books, videos or watching people. Side effects of being raised in ROOT from birth.

She knew the basics of how to act, and would just play it off as a chemical imbalance in her brain if asked. Most civilians couldn't tell much since they didn't know what others with the imaginary imbalance would act, but she couldn't fool shinobi yet.

She had Danzo-sama's ear, and was his right hand man- uh, girl. She was slated to be his heir of sorts when he died. The tongue seal would come off then, he said.

He'd been working for the good of Konoha for decades, but he was getting selfish. Perhaps he was swayed by his own emotions.

Stealing civilians off the streets to be experimented upon was a bad idea. Weren't they supposed to do the dirty work, not make others do it? Especially not the ones they were supposed to be protecting...

And this Massacre. What was the point of killing _everyone? _The Sharingan was a valuable resource, and while she had it, she would never know how to use it to its full potential without emotions.

Sure, there was a coup being planned, but why kill the innocents? They weren't planning a coup, so they wouldn't lose the Sharingan or power if those were spared.

After all, if just one branch of a tree was rotten, you wouldn't cleave off half the plant. The tree would die.

But Danzo-sama hadn't seen reason.

Or he didn't want to.

She'd have to do something about that.

He hadn't seen reason for a while, so even if this was averted, he'd continue making bad decisions.

Danzo had to die. He'd lived too long, it was clouding his judgement.

Decided, she slipped into Danzo's office, hidden by a mild attention diverting genjutsu, barely enough to escape notice.

Uchiha Itachi was here already.

Troublesome.

This would decrease her chances of getting away... but did she need to? ROOT would likely collapse...

She shook herself. Deal with the current problem first.

She drew out a handful of senbon, activating her Sharingan for accuracy, and launched them at Danzo's stolen eye.

Itachi intercepted two.

Danzo snatched two more out of the air, turning towards her.

The last needle pierced the eye-and stopped short of the point where it would pierce his brain.

Then the poison kicked in, and he swayed and fell face first onto his desk, driving the needle in.

She knew she'd only succeeded by pure luck.

And even her success was marred, darkness engulfing her as she clutched the kunai that had been driven into her lower body.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope that wasn't a total flop. Ah, well. If anything I might either abandon this, or just finish it (crappily) for anyone who may like it.

...I haven't actually thought this through...

Review? Please?

**Edit [13/4/15]:** uhh... I hope it's better now.

Is it sufficiently less Mary-Sue-ish? (Because if it isn't I'll happily edit it again)

Murder can refer to a flock of crows… so yeah… um… I hope the chapter title doesn't suck...

Re-review? (Yeah, I know that's not a word...)

**=(^o_o^)=**


	2. Chapter 2: Biological Relations

_**Unstable Anomaly**_

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**A/N** **[21/4/15]: **Here's the second instalment to Unstable Anomaly, and hopefully the quality doesn't take a nosedive… again... 

* * *

_**Chapter 2: Biological Relations (as opposed to calling them 'family')**_

* * *

_[Shiro]_

She tasted blood. The metallic taste was familiar to the ROOT girl, and thus morbidly comforting. Her tongue burned. She would have screamed from the pain, but that would likely hurt it more. So she didn't.

She cracked an eyelid open and gazed at a bland gray ceiling. Concrete, judging by what little she could see.

A quick check told her that all her limbs and her neck were strapped down. The kunai was gone, and the wound partially healed and bandaged. Not completely, and easy to reopen. Her chakra flow had been reduced to a trickle by some sort of drainer, probably the cold metal bracelets circling her wrists.

A door opened somewhere to the right. Footsteps sounded, and a blond head poked into her line of sight.

Pale blue eyes studied her for a moment. "Awake now, are you."

She merely blinked at him once.

The blond man pulled her mouth open and peered down her throat. She didn't resist.

"Hmm. I had thought you were ROOT... now there's a bloody mess at the back of your tongue, so verbal interrogation is out, yes? Blink if it hurts too much to speak."

She blinked.

He reached for her forehead. _Yamanaka. _

"Do try to relax."

The world faded.

Shiro woke to a discussion. The Yamanaka was talking with someone else. The someone else's voice was deeper and grizzly.

"...she...Uchiha? ...reasons...Danzo..."

"Hai. She's awake now, mind you."

The discussion cut off.

A large, scarred man loomed over her. "You'll be staying here for a while, so get comfortable. You'll get a babysitter for a while later. We'll _probably_ be back."

The mild threat of leaving her there to rot after the 'babysitter' left hanging in the air, the man walked away.

The Yamanaka checked her bonds, tightening one ankle strap. "Think about whether you could be loyal to the Hokage." He muttered. And he was gone too.

She started counting the cracks on the ceiling. _Technically I would be loyal, because our interests- Protecting Konoha- are similar. But our methods are not. _

She considered a crack that spilt into two, and counted it as a single one.

* * *

_[From Beyond the Fourth Wall]_

"Hokage-sama."

"Ah, Inoichi. Ibiki. What are your findings?"

"Uchiha Shiro, unless Itachi-san lied about the Sharingan, which is unlikely. She's been in ROOT for all of her six years in life. She has no experiences of emotions to repress to begin with, so she's worse than that other boy, Tenzo."

The Sandaime sucked in a sharp breath at the two bombshells. A confirmed Uchiha, and only six years old.

"Don't you have a daughter the same age? Ino, was it?"

"Yes, Ino-chan's fine. Frankly, it's amazing that the little Uchiha managed to kill Danzo. One less senbon and she'd have been doomed."

"The senbon were poisoned. A paralytic combined with a mild necrotic. The Mangekyo Sharingan Danzo had is slightly rotten now. Itachi said it was likely his cousin's. Uchiha Shisui." Ibiki added.

"The girl hasn't seen much of the village in person, besides the occasional courier mission. She's memorized quite a few maps and pictures, however. On another note, ROOT is alive and well. We could probably get more details if she could talk, her tongue is slightly mangled where the ROOT seal used to be, so she can't talk for the moment. The rest of ROOT is probably suffering from the same effect... and they may defer to her now. She seems to think so."

"Is she a threat."

"This is the first thing she's ever done of her own volition, and her skills are only at high genin level. She shouldn't be a threat if chakra is denied to her. She will have to be watched, however. If we can get her to be loyal to Konoha she would be an asset when she grows up."

"Very well. Take a medic and heal her."

They left.

Five minutes later, someone else barged into the Hokage's office.

"Hiruzen. Where is Itachi?"

Uchiha Fugaku narrowed his eyes at the Hokage. "The _clan heir _didn't come home last night."

The Sandaime sighed. "Fugaku-san. Your _son _is in T&amp;I-"

"WHAT?"

"-helping to investigate the... death of Shimura Danzo. He is one of two eyewitnesses, the other being the one who killed him. I asked him to meet me in five minutes from now, so settle down."

Fugaku's expression got colder, but he sat on one of the available chairs.

* * *

**(In T&amp;I, 10 minutes ago)**

_[Itachi]_

Itachi peered into the girl's cell. She was staring blankly up at the ceiling. _She's so young. Younger than I was. I was a genin at seven, and this girl is six. Far too young to be in this business._

An arm draped across his shoulders. "Itachi! What might you be doing here? Hoping to see me?"

Itachi turned to address the purple haired woman, removing the arm. "Mitarashi-san. I came to see how the girl was doing."

"Call me Anko, Ita_-chan. _I'm supposed to babysit the girl for a while, so company would be nice."

"My apologies, I need to see the Hokage soon. May I enter the room briefly?"

"Aa, you're too polite." Anko opened the door. "The Beautiful and Sexy Mitarashi Anko is here, Shiro-chan!" She called.

There was no response, although one of Shiro's hands twitched.

"Right, I forgot she can't talk. Oops."

Itachi observed the small girl. The girl's obsidian eyes had a hollow look to them, long cyan hair with lavender highlights with strewn around her pallid face. One lock fell across her face, obscuring half of her nose. Her lips sat in a straight line, neither smiling nor frowning.

She blinked at him, cold eyes focusing on his face, and tilted her head slightly to the side. _Why are you here?_

"I came to check on you." He said.

"Eh? Did she say something?" Anko interjected.

"I read her reaction. An essential skill for Uchiha."

Anko snorted. "You don't say. Hellstromism is definitely a must for your clan."

Shiro raised an eyebrow. _Check on me?_

_Why? _

"You got hurt. Is it not normal to feel concern?"

_Is it? _

"Hai."

Shiro relaxed her gaze.

"She's a ROOTie, Itachi. They're emotionally constipated, even more than your clan. Given that she belongs to both categories, it's not really that surprising."

"True."

They sat in silence, except for the sound of Anko stabbing a kunai into the table between her fingers.

"I need to leave. Goodbye, for now."

He brushed past Inoichi-san and a medic on the way out.

The first thing he saw when he entered the Hokage's office was his father, with a displeased look on his face.

"Hokage-sama. Otou-san."

"Itachi. What's this about the murder of Danzo?"

He looked to the Hokage, who nodded.

"Danzo requested me to meet with him. As ANBU commander, I did so. He would have ordered me to massacre the entire clan to contain the coup. Before he could speak beyond a hello, a girl with the Sharingan- who has been confirmed as an Uchiha- snuck in and threw a handful of poisoned senbon at him, one of them going through Shisui's stolen Mangekyo and through his brain. He died."

"An Uchiha girl?"

"She had the Sharingan. Two tomoe, three tomoe. She is six. She has pale blue hair and obsidian eyes. As I have never seen her around before, I assume she has been hidden by ROOT since birth. I believe her name is Shiro." Itachi monotoned.

His father was pale. "Shiro. Blue hair. Six." He muttered.

"Do you know anything about this, Fugaku-san?" The Hokage said. "Do tell."

"Itachi, leave."

"Why?"

"I said _leave_."

He left the room, but stayed outside the door. Silencing seals went up, so he stepped into a secret spot where they let sound leak through. Part of the perks of being ANBU commander.

_"Fugaku. What do you know?"_

_"Sasuke had a twin."_

He hadn't been expecting **that**. A relative, or niece, perhaps. But _Sasuke's __**twin**_? That was a shock.

_"Your second son?" _Mild confusion reflected in the Hokage's voice.

_"Yes. Sasuke had a twin. I had thought that Mikoto had been unfaithful when she was born, as the blue hair is natural. Shiro- we'd named her that, and it seems that Danzo kept it for some reason- vanished on the day of her birth, after I started arguing with Mikoto. Later we checked her genetics with a sample that we had, and it turns out that her hair color is just a random mutation."_

Likely Danzo kept the name to spite them, and probably also never intended for her to be found by outsiders.

_"I see. Why didn't we hear about this?"_

Not really that surprising, given that he hadn't realised that he'd had a little sister, and he was in their immediate family.

_"...I didn't really care about her until after the genetic test, and that was three months after I gave the order to keep it quiet."_

His father could really be heartless sometimes.

"_...I finally know why Kushina was so confused… she didn't understand why Mikoto was depressed when Sasuke was born… When are you going to tell her about this?"_

"_As soon as possible. We want her back."_

"_She killed Danzo, she has to stand trial._

"_And be murdered for killing a traitor? I don't think so." _Fugaku said coldly.

"_To be fair, you were- and still technically are- planning a coup." _The Hokage pointed out.

"_Blame the elders." _His voice was bitter. "_They think we don't get enough space and power despite our district taking up a good portion of the village and running the police force. They don't like you either, since all the Hokages besides the Yondaime have all been Senju, or close to them."_

"_True, and I _am _getting far too old for this job." _A pause. "_I wish Minato hadn't died fighting the Kyuubi. He would be invaluable now."_

"_Back to the current situation. I want the girl, and in exchange take the elders. They're nothing but trouble, stirring up discontent in the clan. I will not carry out the coup. However, I also want another seat on the council, if only to calm the clan."_

'To calm the clan'? That was a poor lie, a child with no knowledge of clan politics could have heard his deceiving tone.

"_You may have Danzo's seat, downgraded of course, but the girl still needs to pay for killing Danzo, even if he was a traitor. What's to stop her from killing others? Remember, she has no sense of remorse."_

"_The Uchiha clan will take responsibility for her. If you would provide chakra drainers?"_

"_Very well. She is to be confined to the compound or accompanied by a shinobi adult in the clan if she has to go out, and will have an ANBU watching her at all times. Do try not to let her near any weapons."_

"_Deal."_

"_It's nice to see that you value your immediate family."_

"_...it's more of the fact that she has activated her Sharingan already. Think of the potential."_

Itachi pulled away, disgusted at his father's admission.

"Itachi, are you still out there?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Come in." He reentered the office. "Itachi, as you are an ANBU, and will be close to Shiro majority of the time, you will be watching her whenever possible."

"I have responsibilities as ANBU commander."

"For now, another ANBU will watch her, but do select a co-commander to help with your duties by the end of the week. No worries, it's only for a month."

"...Hai, Hokage-sama. May I be dismissed now?"

"Dismissed."

Who was he going to find to help him? He didn't have many friends.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

Shiro poked her new bandages. Her captors had healed her, and the wound was only slightly sore now. Her tongue was healed too.

"Kid." The scarred man said.

Silence.

"Shiro-chan~" Sang Mitarashi-san. "Say something, hm?"

"Who are you?" She rasped in her thin, whispery voice. "The scarred one."

"Ibiki."

Shiro looked at him. "Your Bingo book picture is outdated."

Mitarashi laughed. "You don't say. The last time he updated the damn thing was-"

"You can leave now, Anko."

"YES! Bye, Shiro-chan! DANGO AWAITS!"

She vanished out the doorway, whooping gleefully.

"...don't call me Shiro-chan…" She whispered, a full three seconds too late. "Ibiki-san. What will happen to me now."

"That's up to the Hokage." He stepped outside and touched the wall opposite, and a seal flashed. "Don't try to leave."

She sipped some water from a paper cup left on the table. She knew a good seal when she saw one, and was in no hurry to get out.

Where did she have to go anyway?

* * *

_[Itachi]_

A few people did want to help out, but not all were suitable for the temporary position.

Genma (and some others) politely offered, and was politely refused.

Tenzo declined, stating that he 'didn't have enough experience yet, though he would consider it in the future'. He also blinked a few extra times when Itachi told him the name of who he was guarding, but he dismissed it.

He actually asked Kakashi before Tenzo, and he declined the first time. The second time, Itachi looked him straight in the eye and said: "There is no one else I would trust."

His former senpai grudgingly accepted.

* * *

**(The next day)**

_[Shiro]_

She twirled a lock of hair around her finger, the thin strands having mutated into organic pseudo-wires initially from extensive use of a watered-down Hari Jizo. Her hair naturally grew at ridiculous rates until it reached her thighs, then suddenly stopped until the next time it was cut, and it was getting increasingly hard to do so. Eventually she probably wouldn't be able to, which was annoying.

The blue locks had been moderately dexterous when she had access to her chakra, but now they flopped limply in her hand. Cleaning it was going to be… troublesome? Yes. Troublesome.

On that note, she needed to practice her chakra control so that she didn't waste half her reserves on her hair.

* * *

Shifting a gold general, young Shikamaru paused to sneeze, careful not to disturb the board. 

* * *

She plucked out a single strand with the current required amount of force and used it as a temporary hair tie after snapping it into three parts and braiding it for extra durability.

An hour later the door creaked open, and Mitarashi stepped in. "Shiro-chaan, we're off to see the Hokage! Hands!"

She held her hands up, and Mitarashi clamped handcuffs around them, which were attached to a chair that the older woman held.

Mitarashi blindfolded her next, not allowing her to see the insides of T&amp;I, then moved out quickly, pulling a stumbling Shiro along.

She fell down at least five times, when they went up a stairs, or walked past someone else.

When she felt fresh air on her face, she was scooped up and they were Shunshined to... somewhere. It was quiet now, she heard no civilian chatter.

Mitarashi peeled her blindfold off.

Shiro blinked at the light for a few seconds to adjust. Then she looked around.

She was in the Hokage's office. Interesting. The Hokage examined her passively, Mitarashi clapped a hand on the Yamanaka's shoulder, Uchiha Itachi spoke with another- the Uchiha clan head, Fugaku or something like that. And the two customary hidden ANBU who she couldn't sense.

She looked straight at the Hokage blankly, wondering what would happen next.

"Uchiha Shiro."

She blinked. If the mention of her clan name was supposed to faze her, it didn't. She wasn't an idiot, she knew what having the Sharingan meant.

"You have killed Shimura Danzo, a now confirmed traitor to Konoha."

"Hai."

"The Uchiha clan wishes to take you in."

"As you wish."

"Chakra drainers will be kept on you at all times, for a month."

"Mm."

"An ANBU will be watching you closely as well. You may not leave the Uchiha district unless supervised. You may not arm yourself. Any attempts to permanently harm another will be stopped immediately."

"Where will I stay."

"Fugaku-san has requested that you stay in his household so that he can keep an eye on you when he is home."

"What of his family."

"Itachi-san is in his immediate family, and is taking a leave from the position of ANBU commander."

Reasonable. She knew she was getting away with a lot lighter a sentence than she should be getting, either death or life imprisonment. She said nothing, not wanting to die or rot in a cell.

"Swear on your life that you will be loyal to Konoha."

"I swear." She had no intention of hurting it, so she saw no objections to swearing.

"Remember, the Uchiha clan will be responsible for her actions." The Sandaime warned Fugaku.

"I know." He replied frostily. "But I dare not leave her with you." Distrust coloured his tone.

Itachi removed her handcuffs and clamped a hand around her wrist firmly, but not harshly.

They strode out of the office.

* * *

(The Uchiha District) 

People stared at her from all directions. With the clan head and heir escorting her, combined with her hair, it wasn't really surprising.

She ignored them, instead checking the layout of the district with the version she had memorised. It seemed that they'd built at least one more building since the map had been updated. ROOT's intel was horribly out of date.

They reached the house reserved for the clan head's family.

A child with hair that spiked at the back ran up to them and hugged Itachi. "Aniki! Hello!"

"Ahem."

The boy stiffened, leaped away, and bowed to Fugaku-san. "Aa. Otou-san. Gomenasai."

"Otouto. This is Shiro-chan-"

"-don't call me that-"

"-and she will be staying with us for a while."

"She will likely stay here for the rest of her… childhood." Fugaku-san said.

Unfortunately. It would make it slightly harder to get into contact with ROOT.

"Sasuke-kun, don't run off like that during lunch-" She froze. "...tell me I'm not hallucinating."

"You're not, Mikoto."

Shiro found herself swept into a hug.

"Get off me." She pushed weakly against Mikoto-san. (Her arms were clamped by her sides by the older woman's embrace. Tears dripped onto her shirt and she made a face of disgust.

"What was that for."

Mikoto-san was about to say something, then glanced past her and paused. "Uh, to welcome you home." She said awkwardly, obviously wanting to say something else.

She hurried back into the house after a pointed look at Fugaku-san.

"D'you wanna play ninja?"

"No. I am a ninja. I do not 'play'."

"Yeah right, you're smaller than me!" Sasuke exclaimed, measuring his height against hers. It went about three centimetres over her head.

"Ah... well... technically you are not officially a ninja, Shiro-chan."

"...don't call me that… and I don't care about whether I am _legally_ a ninja. I can do the academy three, thus I am a ninja."

Sasuke screwed up his face in what she could identify as 'jealousy'. Likely caused by the facts that while she was smaller than him, she was more skilled than him.

Fugaku walked ahead into the house. "Itachi, you handle this."

"Well… I suppose we should show you where you will be staying, and the general layout of the house."

Sasuke screwed up his face again (mild disgust? Anticipated boredom?) and said "I'm going to finish lunch." He ran back to the house.

Itachi shrugged and guided Shiro along behind him.

* * *

_[Itachi]_

"...and those are the training grounds, which you aren't supposed to use unless you're with a responsible shinobi adult, as a current security risk… no weapon gathering for you."

"Mm."

It seemed that Shiro had adopted a variant of the typical _Uchiha 'Hn.'™ _despite never being exposed to (or trained in) it.

Oh Kami, the 'Hn.' lessons…

He shuddered.

He looked to the sky. It was about evening, so…

"Let's get back to the house, Shiro-chan."

"Don't call me that."

An idea sparked.

"As you wish, Shiro-hime." He smirked (or 'curled one side of his his lips upward a fraction', according to everyone else), hoping to evoke some emotion for elevating the title.

She leveled a look of disapproval at him. "I am no princess, nor something cute, despite being small."

"True." What had he expected? Anger? She'd probably never experienced it before.

They walked by an ANBU squad taking the Elders away on the way back.

Neither spared the old, traitorous fools a second glance.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

Shiro snuggled under the covers of her futon in her 'sleeping clothes'- really Itachi's oversized shirt as she didn't have any clothes on her besides the ones that she had had on her back- and touched her neck.

When she drew her hand away a moment later, there was a small, shiny, black bug on it.

One of Torune's few normal bugs, a Kikaichu sat on her palm.

Not a female, fortunately. One of those may have been detected. It had slipped in through the open window, and snuck under the collar of her shirt.

She considered it for a moment, then whispered to it.

Considering that her normal tone of voice was already whispery and soft, only an Inuzuka hound with extra-enhanced hearing would have heard her- or a Kikai bug a mere few centimetres from her mouth.

"Message to ROOT. Stay low. I will rejoin when I can. You may watch me, but do not approach unless necessary."

The Kikaichu waved it's feelers feebly, the bug's version of nodding. She tucked it into her hair, and sprawled out from under the covers in a way that the strands the bug was in landed near the window, where it could discreetly crawl out.

She fell asleep shortly after.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope Inoichi was okay. I'm kind of presenting him as too nice for his own good, aren't I? And I would have written Ibiki more, but I'm not very good at his character... I think...

Was Anko decent? Unfortunately I end up sugar coating some things... like language, so the more vulgar characters might be OOC.

And Itachi. Ugh. He's far too nice here, in my opinion…

Review! And have a virtual cookie for your efforts! Just don't eat the ones Shiro made, they taste like bricks dipped in tar.

**presents a platter of cookies for reviewers**

Plain cookies, Chocolate cookies, Chocolate Chip cookies, Shiro's cookies, which make rather good construction materials… and flaming cookies. I have no idea how Shiro managed to make those.


	3. Chapter 3: House Arrest

_**Unstable Anomaly**_

* * *

**A/N** **[1/8/15]: Plot bunnies. Are. Evil. So is homework, and projects, and school in general.**

* * *

_**Chapter 3: FastForward- House Arrest**_

* * *

(Week 1)

_[Shiro]_

"Spar with me?"

Shiro stared at the boy with blank eyes, contemplating his queer hairstyle. How in the world did he make it look like a bird's behind?

"Hey! I'm talking to youuu. Wanna spar?" The boy widened his eyes- the Puppy Eyes technique only used by children. It didn't work on her, but it did break her train of thought about his queer hairstyle.

She blinked. "As you wish."

They walked into the backyard.

She walked back in about a minute later. Sasuke stayed sprawled on the grass outside.

_Boring. But to be expected, I suppose, for his age._

* * *

_[Shiro]_

She wasn't allowed near weapons, so she improvised.

The closest thing to senbon available were toothpicks, and there were 89 of those in a packet in the kitchen. (The other 11 had been used prior to her discovery.)

Itachi found her flicking them at a leaf pinned to a tree. The toothpicks were immediately confiscated.

Same went for the disposable chopsticks that she had broken into more manageable pieces, and the kitchen knives.

She ended up throwing branches and twigs- unwieldy and lopsided things- because those couldn't be confiscated unless they burned down all the trees.

_[Itachi]_

Itachi almost had an aneurysm when he strolled into the backyard and saw Shiro flicking senbon at a leaf.

Then he realised they weren't senbon, they were toothpicks. Which weren't much better, as they were basically light, flimsy and wooden versions of senbon.

He confiscated all of them, ignoring Shiro's annoyed look (which didn't quite qualify as a glare.)

When he spotted her throwing broken chopsticks the next day he sighed. And took them away, since they still resembled senbon to a degree.

The kitchen knives vanished the next morning, and he went to check the backyard.

One pale haired girl, check.

Kitchen knives stuck in tree, check.

He went over to pull the out of the bark and returned them to the kitchen drawer after washing them.

The twigs and branches he couldn't do anything about. They were everywhere, he couldn't possibly confiscate _all_ of them.

He sighed. "...Shiro-chan? Really? Twigs?"

"It's not like I can use anything else." The former ROOT deadpanned, skewering a leaf with another twig.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

She tried to stick leaves to her fingers, but the chakra was sucked up by the bracelets (as expected, sadly). So she pushed it to the tips of her toes, furthest away from the drainers, and swirled the leaves with them.

She twirled, leaves trailing from her toes, an eerie, silent dance- it was good training, since it was harder to keep them following her constantly moving feet than stationary ones.

She was unconscious for two days after exhausting her diminished chakra reserves. Fugaku forbid her from wasting her chakra after that.

She didn't quite listen, continuing the exercise- it isn't a 'waste' of chakra, after all- but she doesn't faint again. However, she doesn't attempt tree and water walking. She didn't want to die of chakra depletion, falling from a tree, or drowning, after all. She wasn't stupid.

_[Itachi]_

When he saw Shiro dancing, he didn't think that she was using chakra. Dancing was _supposed_ to be a good sign, right?

But then Shiro collapsed, and he was by her side instantly.

Chakra exhaustion. Whatever made her think that using chakra was a good idea? And what had she been doing?

...The leaves. They'd been swirling unnaturally.

He groaned. He should have noticed sooner.

"_Why_ do you have to be so hard to take care of, imouto..." He sighed, settling her onto his bed.

He'd sleep on the futon for a while.

* * *

(Week 2)

_[Shiro]_

"Spar with me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're not good enough."

She left the disappointed boy to do katas by herself. They were more useful than an effortless fight.

Training him crossed her mind, but as she had no idea how to do it, let alone having to put up with him for hours… She dismissed the thought.

_[Shiro]_

Shiro watched Itachi 'spar' with Sasuke.

She knows Itachi is going easy on his little brother. If he was serious he wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in Suna.

But they fight, and end it in laughter when Itachi scores a forehead poke.

_I don't understand._

_[Itachi]_

He knows Shiro is watching them, and he can almost feel the confusion radiating from her.

She's probably wondering why I'm going easy on Sasuke, and wondering why we're laughing. Has she ever actually had a friendly spar? Probably not, ROOT didn't encourage it, after all.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

She found a cat in a bush, cream furred coat with light brown patches. A red collar with a golden bell tinkles lightly as it shifts.

It's wary at first, nipping at her fingers when she tries to pet it, viciously swiping with claws if she got too close.

The cat gets used to her presence quickly, encouraged by the bites of tuna she brings. It doesn't seem to notice Itachi, who's perched in the tree above them.

"I wonder if you could fight. A nin-cat would be useful." She mutters one day.

The cat's ears perk up.

* * *

_[Itachi]_

Itachi gives a silent sigh, but he doesn't comment on her pseudo-adoption of the cat.

Sure, it'll make life harder for the genin trying to catch the cat, but it was good training for them. And hopefully Tora would be good for Shiro's mental state.

He decides to ask the Hokage for advice.

"Shiro's adopted Tora."

"She's done _what_ now?"

"Adopted the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat, and she's trying to train it to be a nin-cat."

The Hokage blinks. "The worrying thing is, she might actually succeed, as Tora hails from a long line of cats bred to be nin-cats… But let her be for now, and notify me if you see the cat blowing fireballs or something of the like."

* * *

_[Shiro]_

As predicted, her long hair is a nuisance without chakra. It's gotten tangled to a ridiculous degree, and it looks like a bird's nest. She's had to remove 34 twigs, 46 leaves, and 1 loudly chirping baby bird so far. And combing it is an exercise in futility.

It's frustrating. She'd tear it all out, but that would make it worse.

She throws the hairbrush at the door.

_Anger. Mild, but still... _

_...I need to meditate more... it's exhausting being exposed to emotions everyday..._

_[Itachi]_

Itachi ends up brushing Shiro's hair the next day to stop her from mentally imploding.

And hopefully prevent further property damage. She'd unwittingly left a dent in the door when she threw the hairbrush at it.

Was showing anger a good sign? It _was_ an emotion...

* * *

(Week 3)

_[Shiro]_

"Spaaaaar with meeeee..."

It's the 387th time Sasuke's asked. It's getting annoying, so she accepts.

Sasuke is a bit better than last time, but she still beats him into the ground.

The boy resolves to get better. She hears mutterings about losing to a girl three centimetres shorter than he is.

Pride is a funny thing. Perhaps he'd make a decent sparring partner if she poked at his ego enough..?

She decides against it, for the moment. No need to make him more insufferable.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

"Birthday party?"

"Yeah! A party for us! Isn't it cool that we're born on the same day?"

"No."

"Don't be a spoilsport, Shiro."

"As you wish." She plasters on an obviously fake smile.

"Not like that!"

She replaces the mask with a more realistic one. Sasuke doesn't say anything, accepting the false smile as genuine.

They eat cake after singing a ridiculously repetitive and cheerful song, and blowing out some candles.

Fugaku-san looks as bored as she feels, and _he_ knew in advance that he got to escape back to the police station after the cake was eaten.

She gets a sketchbook and colour pencils from Itachi, and a pair of headphones and a music player from Mikoto (and Fugaku, she claims), overpriced gadgets for civilians.

Sasuke gives her a sheepish smile and says the kunai he got for her were confiscated because he forgot she wasn't supposed to have weapons.

She returns the smile (fake, but no one needs to know that), saying that she didn't know what a birthday party was and thus didn't get him anything.

Sasuke gasps as if that was an offence. "How can you not know what a birthday party is? But it's okay. You can just owe me a gift!"

She spars with him in the funny weak way Itachi does it with Sasuke, since it seems to make him happy, and says that's his gift. But he replies that it doesn't count, unless he gets a hug too, since 'she never hugs anyone'.

It's an interesting experience. Warm, and she can sense the boy accepting her. As family or a friend, she isn't sure.

_[Itachi]_

The gifts for Shiro had been chosen carefully, hopefully to prod at her latent emotions. Colours and music were often used in therapy, and might be able to help her.

Her current state had her smile occasionally, but he could tell it was plastic and fake most of the time. Confusion and frustration were often genuine, but that was about it. She'd picked up a bit of sarcasm somewhere without realising it, but only gave sarcastic comments once in a while.

She'd accepted the gifts with a polite bow and smile, with a hint of confusion in her eyes. _What are these for?_

"It is a tradition to give gifts to someone when their birthday passes, if you appreciate them, Shiro-chan." He clarifies for her.

She nods, and then Sasuke steals her attention.

* * *

_[Shiro]_

She draws someone in the sketchbook, but she doesn't remember who. _Kinoe, _she thinks, but she can't connect the name and face to an identity. The long-haired boy seems old-fashioned, with a happuri-style hitai-ite. For some reason she'd drawn him next to a tree.

Strange.

Music is even stranger. The tunes stimulate unidentified feelings, but she doesn't really feel them.

It's like hearing a kaleidoscope. Beautiful, but just there to be observed.

_[Itachi]_

Itachi finds the sketchbook he gave Shiro lying open on his bedside table, and immediately recognises Tenzo. He's younger, and has longer hair, but it's undoubtedly him. The hitai-ite and the face are dead giveaways.

When had Shiro seen him?

_I'll ask Tenzo next time I see him._

And he does, when the mokuton user turns up at the house to 'check on him', having been pushed into doing it by 'Inu-senpai'.

Shiro's in the yard with Tora, so he leads the young ANBU to his room and shows him the picture. "How?"

"Ah… I was formerly in ROOT too, I think I saw her once or twice when she was an infant."

* * *

(Week 4)

_[Shiro]_

The cat's been making a lot of progress. She's taught it to fight more efficiently and to manipulate its chakra. It can walk up flat surfaces like trees now, but is still struggling to walk on water. It's got good motivation not to fall in, however. It can swim, but doesn't like to. The feline has also learned to write, albeit messily, with its tail and a brush, or claws and a scratchable surface. It's name, apparently, is Tora. They'd worked out a signal, but they couldn't use it yet. Two short spikes of her chakra, and Tora would come running. Hypothetically. They couldn't test it with the chakra drainers on.

She'll teach it ninjutsu somehow when she gets her chakra back. Even if it lacked opposable thumbs (which it did).

_[Itachi]_

He wasn't entirely sure that letting her train Tora had been a good idea. The genin could hardly keep up anymore, and the mission desk was considering upgrading it to a C-rank mission.

The Hokage had just sighed and said, "Oh well. Too late."

He wondered what would happen if Shiro got the mission to catch Tora.

* * *

(Week 5)

_[Itachi]_

"Shiro-chan."

"Mm." She's learned that objecting to the honorific is a waste of time and effort, so she doesn't protest against it.

"The month is up, and the Hokage wants to see you anyway, so the drainers are getting removed today."

_Finally._ "When do we leave?"

* * *

**A/N:** **This has been sitting around incomplete since… I forgot, but never mind. Still not satisfied with it. **

**Reviews please?**

**(PS: I have a tendency to edit my chapters after they've been reviewed.. so..)**


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